5 of the costliest tweets ever

Twitter’s IPO aside, even tweets can move the market

Sticks and stones may break bones, but 140 characters can do a whole lot more damage. Those who bought Twitter
TWTR, -0.61%
stock must be happy with the stock’s performance post-IPO Thursday, but erroneous Tweets have also cost some users big.

While Twitter can be a powerful social networking and marketing tool, hasty or erroneous posts on the site sometimes get pretty expensive. Misfired tweets have ended careers, led to huge fines, and when the Associated Press account was hacked last April, the Dow plunged 145 points. A tweet appeared around 1pm on April 23, 2013 saying: “Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured.” The AP deleted the post and suspended the account.

The problem with Twitter, aside from such obvious security issues, is that immediacy and informality — the site’s greatest strength — are also its greatest dangers.

And in many cases, there’s no turning back once you hit “tweet.” Attempts to delete tweets are often too late (just ask fallen congressman Anthony Weiner who re-entered the public stage to run for mayor of New York; he didn’t win). Millions more of these brief musings will live on for posterity, enshrined in an archive being created by the Library of Congress. “Public Tweets are a public and permanent record,” says Daniel Post-Senning, great-great grandson of the grand dame of etiquette Emily Post.

Here are five of the more regrettable tweets — and the estimated hefty price tags that came with them.

— By Quentin Fottrell

lev radin / Shutterstock.com

Slide 2 of 7

Anthony Weiner tweets away his seat

* Price tag: $174,000 salary, dreams of being mayor, president

Anthony Weiner, the former Democratic congressman for New York, resigned in June 2011 after sending a sexually explicit photo of himself to a college student over Twitter. At first, Weiner claimed that his Twitter account was hacked, telling reporters he was the victim of a “prank.” While he lost his $174,000-a-year job — the standard salary for members of both the House and the Senate — he also walked away with the equivalent of around $1.2 million in retirement benefits after just a dozen years in office. These days, he works as a media pundit, political analyst and blogger, and since his unsuccessful run for mayor of New York is back on Twitter as @anthonyweiner, saying he’s “a fighter for the middle class and those struggling to make it.”

Shutterstock.com

Slide 3 of 7

Juror tweets, judge orders retrial

* Estimated price tag: $600,000-plus

The Arkansas Supreme Court reversed the murder conviction of a death-row inmate after a juror tweeted that the trial was over nearly an hour before the jury announced its verdict. The defendant, Erickson Dimas-Martinez, was convicted in 2010 of robbing and shooting a teenager. His lawyer said the juror’s tweets violated the trial judge’s instruction not to talk about the case. One tweet read: “Choices to be made. Hearts to be broken. We each define the great line.”

A new trial could cost taxpayers $600,000, says John Wesley Hall, a criminal defense attorney in Arkansas for nearly 40 years and past president of National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. “If anything smacks of an unfair trial the defendant should get a new trial,” he says. Even if the juror did not intentionally discuss the case with anyone, by sending the tweet, he was inviting conversation, according to Arkansas lawyer Andrew M. Taylor. “There’s really no excuse for his behavior,” he says. In the end, taxpayers were spared the expense of the second trial. Dimas-Martinez pleaded guilty.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban / Reuters

Slide 4 of 7

NBA fines tweeting team owners

* Estimated price tag: $525,000

The National Basketball Association has fined team owners thousands of dollars for tweets. In November 2011, Miami Heat owner Micky Arison was fined a reported $500,000 for commenting on the player/trade union bargaining process, which is a no-no for a team owner, according to NBA rules. In 2009, it fined Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban $25,000 for using Twitter to publicly criticize officials after the Mavericks lost a game against Denver. The Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks did not comment. Tim Frank, a spokesman for the NBA, says both parties were fined, but declined to confirm the specifics. “You’re accountable for what you do on Twitter just as if you put up a sign in the main street of your town,” Post-Senning says.

Getty Images

Slide 5 of 7

Spirit Airlines ad blast for $9 fares

* Price tag: $50,000

Spirit Airlines tweeted about $9 one-way tickets from Los Angeles in June 2011, but failed to mention the additional taxes and charges in its brief 140-character ad blast. In November 2011, the Department of Transportation fined the Florida-based airline $50,000 for deceptive advertising practices. The taxes and fees were disclosed on the airline’s website, but only after clicking on a second link. A spokeswoman for Spirit declined to comment on the fine. At the time, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement: “Consumers have a right to know the full price they will be paying when they buy an airline ticket. We expect airlines to treat their passengers fairly, and we will take enforcement action when they violate our price advertising rules.”

Rob Wilson / Shutterstock.com

Slide 6 of 7

CNN editor Octavia Nasr fired for tweet

* Estimated price tag: Future earnings

In 2010, a 20-year CNN veteran, Octavia Nasr — then a senior editor covering the Middle East — was fired after sending out a tweet saying she had respect for Shiite Cleric Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah. It read: “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot. #Lebanon” During his lifetime, Fadlallah was a vocal critic of U.S. foreign policy and supported suicide bombings against Israel. Nasr apologized for her tweet and said it was an error of judgment. She further defended Fadlallah because she said he took a contrarian and pioneering stand among Shia clerics on women’s rights. CNN and Nasr did not respond requests for comment.

Rob Wilson / Shutterstock.com

Slide 7 of 7

CNN editor Octavia Nasr fired for tweet

* Estimated price tag: Future earnings

In 2010, a 20-year CNN veteran, Octavia Nasr — then a senior editor covering the Middle East — was fired after sending out a tweet saying she had respect for Shiite Cleric Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah. It read: “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot. #Lebanon” During his lifetime, Fadlallah was a vocal critic of U.S. foreign policy and supported suicide bombings against Israel. Nasr apologized for her tweet and said it was an error of judgment. She further defended Fadlallah because she said he took a contrarian and pioneering stand among Shia clerics on women’s rights. CNN and Nasr did not respond requests for comment.

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